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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Politico Reports, GOP Grapples With Distancing From Trump On The Trail; Trump Says, I'll Spend Whatever Amount Of Money Necessary In Midterms; Wall Street Journal Reports, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) Skips Meetings, Shows Little Interest In Doing Job; Witkoff, Kushner To Visit Moscow And Kyiv For Diplomatic Talks; Trump's Pet Projects To Go On Despite Legal Hurdles. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired September 04, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, Republican lawmakers are RSVPing no to next week's convention --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to be in the district.
PHILLIP: -- get a warning from the RNC distance yourself from the president at your own risk.
Plus, Fetterman under fire. A scathing report says he's not interested in doing his job and his Democratic colleagues agree.
Also, after failing to reach a deal in Iran to end the war, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are headed to Kyiv and Moscow --
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They're bringing with them a proposal to end the war because I ended eight wars.
PHILLIP: -- as Ukraine gets blamed for higher gas prices in the U.S.
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets.
PHILLIP: And the search for immortality one construction project at a time.
TRUMP: It's called a flawless granite and we have the best stuff. One thing I know how to do is build. I love construction.
PHILLIP: What's driving the president's punch list and his timeline?
Live at the table, Mike Nellis, Scott Jennings, Tim Parrish and Dina Doll.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): Welcome back. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Tonight, Republican candidates all around the country are facing a difficult question, should they embrace Trump or distance themselves from him? The RNC warns candidates that keeping Trump at arm's length could risk alienating the base and dissuade 15 to 20 percent of key Republican voters from turning out.
Making matters even more challenging is the hundreds of millions of dollars that President Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., has in its war chest. He was asked about how those funds will be spent today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: When will your super PAC, MAGA Inc., start spending on Ken Paxton?
TRUMP: We already did, yes.
REPORTER: But will you spend more?
TRUMP: Well, I have -- I think I have like close to a billion dollars in the super PAC, and I'm allocating probably $4 or $500 million. So, I'll be spending -- we'll be spending --
REPORTER: For this midterm election?
TRUMP: Yes. We're going to spend a lot of money because we don't want to lose our country.
REPORTER: Mr. President, how do you make that determination of how to spend and where to spend --
TRUMP: How do I make it? I sit down and I say, let's do this. Let's do that. I'm going to be going around. I'm going to be making contributions to various campaigns of people that I think are good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, why don't Republicans want Trump on the campaign trail? Well, perhaps it's because of the unpopularity of the Iran war, or Trump's own abysmal polling numbers, or that he insists America is in its golden age while Americans say that they're feeling pressure of the economy every single day.
So, here's Republican Congressman Rob Wittman. He won his race in Virginia's First District by 13 points in 2024, but he still hasn't given Trump a call to ask him to come and campaign for him this cycle. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want the president to come to the First District and campaign with you? REP. ROB WITTMAN (RVA): Well, Ryan, listen. I'm very focused on our campaign plan getting out and talking to the folks in the First Congressional District.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But would part of your campaign plan be to have an event with the president, to bring him to your district?
WITTMAN: Well, my campaign plan is about our efforts to talk with our constituents and do everything that we can to meet with them as many as we can face-to-face.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, I'm going to try one more time. Do you want the president to campaign for you?
WITTMAN: As I said, our campaign plan is focused on my interactions with my constituents and the things that we worked on there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: All right. Before we open it up at the table, we invite you at home to join our debate. Go to cnn.com/abby to weigh in. We'll get to some of your comments throughout the show.
Tim, is it wise for the RNC to be -- maybe they're not yet strong- arming, but they seem to suggest that they could be strong-arming people into having Donald Trump in their districts, warning them not to avoid the president when they clearly have their reasons for why they don't want him down there.
TIM PARRISH, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: Abby, I actually think this is a very interesting story, right? When you look at -- we saw this happen on the left as well with Democrats who said they didn't want Kamala Harris to come and campaign with them, and she said, we've got to win, so I'm happy to stay away.
[22:05:05]
I don't think the president needs to go to these districts or doesn't need to go to districts because the candidates that are running there have great records to run on, and they should just let their Democrat challengers run on the things they're running on, like abolishing the police, keeping the border open, getting rid of the Senate, getting rid of the presidency.
The congressman in question that you just brought up there, this subject actually used to be my congressman, Rob Wittman. He's a spectacular representative for people in the First District. His opponent, Shannon Taylor, lost her bid in the Democratic primary to be attorney general because she's a soft on crime radical liberal candidate, and she's not going to be good for that district.
So, it doesn't matter if the president comes or not. I think that Rob should run, and Republicans across the country should run and let the Democrats run on their radical agenda.
PHILLIP: Is the RNC wrong that they would be jeopardizing 15 percent to 20 percent of the electorate? Because Tim says that, yes, these candidates are all right to stay away from Trump if they need to.
PARRISH: Well, that's not what I said. That's not what I said.
PHILLIP: You said that if they need to run their races, they should do it --
PARRISH: I said that the Republicans should run -- first of all, Donald Trump's not on the ballot. Second of all, the candidates that are running for Congress, as Rob said, should be the ones on the ground engaging their constituents about the things that they're going to do for their districts.
PHILLIP: Well, let me just ask you that. Is the RNC -- the RNC is saying to Wittman, don't avoid Trump, have him in your district, because if you don't 15 to 20 percent of your base is not going to show up. Are they right about that?
PARRISH: What I think is important here is, as the congressman said, is he should be the one on the ground talking to his constituents and telling his constituents what he's going to do for them.
PHILLIP: Okay. So, the answer is no, Tim? Is that a yes or a no?
PARRISH: That's the important piece.
PHILLIP: Okay. So, is that a yes or a no? Should Donald Trump go down to that district in Virginia and campaign with Wittman?
PARRISH: He's the president United States. He can go campaign wherever he would like to. But what's important is that Rob Wittman is the one who's on the ground --
PHILLIP: So, just like Ryan Nobles with Rob Wittman, I'm going to take your refusal to answer the question three times as an acknowledgement that you don't think that the president should go down there.
PARRISH: I'm going to tell you that it's --
PHILLIP: I just want a yes or no answer.
PARRISH: It's important.
PHILLIP: Should -- is it the right thing? Is he making the wrong move as a candidate, risking 20 percent of the base by not having the president there? That's a yes or no answer to that question.
PARRISH: He's making the right move by telling people what he's going to do for them in their district.
PHILLIP: There's a yes or no answer to that question.
MIKE NELLIS, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN: But here's the thing, every Republican is afraid to cross the Trump White House right now, and that's the problem. You brought up Kamala Harris a second ago. We've had multiple Democrats including Rob Sand in Iowa and Peltola in Alaska who have said, I don't want Kamala Harris to come campaign, and Kamala Harris said, okay, I understand that, because we're not afraid to stand up to our party leaders. You guys are afraid to stand up to Trump. You can't answer a basic question from Abby, neither could the congressman.
PARRISH: Well, first of all, I'm not I'm not afraid of much including --
NELLIS: And it's simple yes or no though.
PARRISH: -- not crossing the presidency. I've sat on this show multiple times and disagreed with the administration on subjects. So, that's --
NELLIS: But you can't answer a simple yes or no question.
PARRISH: The question -- because it's not a simple yes or no. People are running for Congress, and they should be the ones talking to their constituents about what they're going to do for them on the ground.
NNELIS: I just want to say one --
DINA DOLL, MEIDASTOUCH HOST: I think the Republican Party is going to find out what the rest of us have known for a long time which is it's always about Trump. He has dragged this country through the mud because he lost in 2020. He cannot handle every race not being about him, but he is deeply unpopular. They will lose if they tie himself. But rather than maybe keep some seats, he's willing to throw the whole thing away if they do not bow down to dear leader.
And the Republicans, especially after these midterms, when he becomes a lame duck president and people are going to start vying to become the presidential nominee, it is going to drive him bananas. And the Republican Party is going to see how far Trump is willing to go to not appear a loser.
PARRISH: Might I remind you though, the president did in '24 -- I know you brought up '20 -- in '24 won the electoral college and won the popular vote in this country.
DOLL: Yes.
PARRISH: And so the president absolutely is not --
NELLIS: And what are his numbers now?
PARRISH: He's not about -- sure, you can look at polls.
NELLIS: He's underwater in 47 out of 50 states.
PARRISH: Listen, the Democrats have tried to run on orange man bad, not on the policies that they actually have --
NELLIS: Democrats have won a lot of elections in the last year and half on orange man bad.
PARRISH: -- about whether they're going to help the American people.
PHILLIP: All right.
PARRISH: Open borders, getting rid of (INAUDIBLE) defunding the police, that is the policies that you want to run on.
NELLIS: That is not the policies that we're running on or want to run on. No, it's not the policies of anybody.
PARRISH: It's orange man bad, and it doesn't work.
NELLIS: I'm sorry. To say that battleground Democrats are running on those issues. Like nobody's running --
(CROSSTALKS)
NELLIS: No, it's not true. It's just not true, and it shows the desperation of the Republican Party.
PARRISH: (INAUDIBLE) that are winning their primaries are winning on those issues.
NELLIS: In a handful of places, you're talking about three people. Nobody in a battleground race.
PARRISH: No, for only three people --
NELLIS: That's not --
PARRISH: That is factually not true.
NELLIS: No, it is not, it is.
PARRISH: That is not true.
PHILLIP: Okay. All right. Okay. All right. We're going to move on from that. We could fact check it, but we're going to move on.
Look, Manu Raju spent some time on the Hill. He was talking to some of these Republicans. Let's just let them say in their own words what they want.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you planning to go to the Republican convention next week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I plan to be in my district.
RAJU: Congressman, are you going to the Republican convention next week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm thinking about it.
RAJU: Are you going to the Republican convention next week?
REP. MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR (R-FL): I have to be in the district because I have events. I would love to go.
[22:10:00]
I was thinking about it. I'm going to miss out on something important, but I cannot be in two places at the same time yet.
RAJU: Are you going to go to the midterm convention next week?
REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): No. I'm going to take -- I've been in -- I've been campaigning for a year-and-a-half.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: if I were Ralph, I wouldn't go either.
PHILLIP: I would love to be there, but I got other things to do. I mean, listen, this midterm convention next week is going to be the Trump show, and a lot of these members are like, we don't have time for this. We have to actually run our own races. Is it a mistake for the president to put on this dog and pony show at a time when actually what his members are asking for is some space and time to do the work that they need to do?
JENNINGS: I think some will choose not to go. Some will choose to go, particularly if there are fundraising opportunities. I would suspect that a lot of U.S. senators will probably be there because of that. Individual House races may not have as much of a fundraising boost out of going to this, so it might make more sense for them to stay at home.
Look, yes, the idea of the convention was let's give some programming and some messaging out there. If it's going to be a nationalized environment which, you know, for the political operatives here, I think we would all agree is somewhat nationalized, then you have to give the American people an affirmative defense of what the Republicans and the president have been doing, and you have to give them some messaging about what you want to do in the future.
A convention-type format is a good way to do that. I look forward to seeing what they pull off in Dallas. I'll be there and I'm looking forward to seeing how they want to lay out the thing.
If I can go back to the RNC memo for a minute, they actually have a tactical point, and it is something the Republicans have been grappling with since President Trump came on the scene. There actually are a lot of Republican-leaning voters who like to vote for him but tend not to or haven't turned out for all other Republicans. And I think the point they were making is, look, we're trying to get those people who love Trump to come out and vote for you, and if you don't engage with us in that process, we're going to have a hard time doing that.
So, it's actually a numeric issue they've been dealing with for quite some time, and I understand the technical point of it.
PHILLIP: But, I mean, when has that ever worked for Trump?
NELLIS: No, it doesn't work for Trump. And, actually, Harry Enten had some information, some polling data just a couple days ago on CNN talking about the Republicans that are most likely to turn out are the ones who like Donald Trump, and the ones who aren't are the ones who don't. So, actually, him going into those districts might spur a lot of those Republicans that don't support the president to come out and vote for the Democrat.
JENNINGS: I'll give you one more --
DOLL: And I think the selection of Texas is also revealing because, usually, parties hold their conventions in swing states. They want activists to get emboldened. You want to then go out and send them out. Are they that worried about Texas, that Democrats are going to flip Texas? Why would you have so many resources come to Texas, of all places? Because it is either a safe space for Trump, evidently, he's going to campaign in Alaska and Texas as of now, both safe spaces; or they know that Texas is really in play. Both things are bad for Republicans.
PHILLIP: So, there's also not just Trump and his money, but also Elon Musk and his money. And Susan Collins was asked about Musk spending money in her very important Senate race. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Elon Musk's America PAC has donated more than $170,000 to your campaign, they disclosed on Wednesday. Mr. Musk is, you know, pretty controversial for his efforts at DOGE and his online conduct. Do you have any comment on these donations?
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): Well, first of all, I wasn't aware of that donation. I knew he was going to get involved in political campaigns, but I had not heard that there was a specific donation.
I don't agree with him on everything, but I do agree with him that we need to eliminate waste and be much more efficient in government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not really that helpful to her, to have Elon Musk dabbling in that race. And so it's easy for me to see how actually the money in some of these races where an Elon Musk or a Donald Trump is not particularly popular could end up backfiring for some of these candidates.
PARRISH: Yes, that could be the case. I think that where the senator is she needs every dime that she can in what I believe is going to be a tight race in Maine. And I agree, she probably didn't know.
I don't think she probably tracks every dime that comes into her campaign. She probably didn't know. But, Abby, I actually agree with you. Who donates to your campaign is indicative of the people that support you and sort of what you support. But she will need every dime that she can get, and I don't think that this is a bad thing in this case for her.
DOLL: I think that was such a bad answer for her. It's about $180,000, and, really, the attack that Troy Jackson is making is that she is checked out. The fact that she says, I don't know how much somebody is donating, to that extent, she already hasn't held town halls for years. She didn't show up to the J.D. Vance rally he just held in August in Maine. Constituents say she doesn't respond to emails, phone calls.
So, her saying, I don't know who's donating to that tune is not the answer she thinks it is.
[22:15:01]
PARRISH: Do you hold that standard to all candidates that basically you're judging the campaign on who donates money to them?
DOLL: People -- campaigns know how and who gives them money.
PARRISH: Do you hold that same standard?
(CROSSTALKS)
JENNINGS: I think this is a legitimate question.
PHILLIP: I will say -- I will -- but I will say that there -- this is an issue not just with the Musk and the Trump. I mean, the AIPAC thing, that is a -- I mean, that's a campaign issue in a lot of these districts and states.
JENNINGS: It's a legitimate issue you raise, and I wonder if you will hold Democratic campaigns to the standard when it comes to ActBlue, which is currently under active investigation for funneling foreign money into American elections.
NELLIS: Well, that's not ActBlue actually is.
JENNINGS: Do you expect every Democrat candidate to go out and audit their funds to ensure that ActBlue hasn't put illegal money into their --
NELLIS: Well, I'm sorry, I feel the need to push back on this as a --
PHILLIP: Just let me let Mike have a word and --
JENNINGS: They're under investigation.
NELLIS: You know, as the digital fundraiser at the table, ActBlue is payment processor. So, it's about millions of Americans giving donations of $5 and $10.
JENNINGS: They're taking a Fifth before Congress, aren't they?
NELLIS: Okay. Well, right now, Donald Trump is trying to dismantle Democratic Party infrastructure and helping win elections. PHILLIP: I will also say, I mean, you're kind of trying to make that connection, but it's about whether there is a connection for the voter. And I would argue that the -- there is no connection between what the allegations against ActBlue and most voters, whereas everybody knows who Elon Musk is. Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. And AIPAC, Democrats and the Democratic socialists have made AIPAC a campaign issue.
So, to the extent Republicans can do that with ActBlue, fine. But so far, it's not, not to the same degree.
Next for us, pathetic, a disgrace, lazy, that is how some Democrats are describing one of their own.
Plus, after failing to secure a deal in Iran, the president's trusted dealmakers are headed back to Ukraine and Moscow. What's to make of Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff's latest trip? We'll debate that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: A sitting U.S. senator called a disgrace, a lazy trust fund baby and pathetic. And those are what members of his own party are saying. All of these Democrats from Pennsylvania are talking about Senator John Fetterman. The public airing of grievances coming after The Wall Street Journal reports that the senator shows little interest in doing the work voters elected him to do.
There are examples of him standing up disabled veterans but making time for an interview on Fox, scoffing at the concerns of a children's hospital he represents, and skipping committee hearings in Washington.
This Wall Street Journal piece is frankly pretty devastating for John Fetterman. I doubt he cares. That's the God's honest truth. He doesn't seem to be swayed by this type of thing. But it paints a picture of someone not just who's made an ideological shift, but also someone who just seems disinterested in the job.
DOLL: It's -- that story in particular, the fact that he missed a meeting with disabled veterans in order to then an hour later have a Fox interview about the war in Iran, where you are literally creating more veterans and more disabled veterans, is disgusting. I mean, if you could at least speak with your constituents who are affected by war before making this very important decision and going out there and parroting propaganda about the war. I can think of nothing worse for a senator to do than to act as if it doesn't matter what veterans think before pushing war on a national television show.
NELLIS: Yes. If I can jump in there, there're so many horrifying stories in that, like blowing off sick kids and refusing to go to the funeral of a slain police officer because the funeral was going to be too long.
There're certain things that just need to rise above partisan politics, because it's one thing for me to have a disagreement with John Fetterman on Israel. It's another thing for me to have a disagreement with him about, you know, the things he says about Abdul El-Sayed or going on Fox News or stuff like that. It's another thing when you're just not doing your job.
PHILLIP: But can I just ask you, Mike, I mean, did Democrats gloss over all of this when they nominated him to the Senate? In 2022, an A.P. Story says Fetterman's record shows light schedule as Pennsylvania lieutenant governor. Another story around that time, no Show, Dem Senate candidate skipped dozens of city council meetings as mayor. Dr. Oz, who was running against him at the time, raised this issue in that campaign. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MEHMET OZ, THEN-PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: John Fetterman has been hiding from voters for the last few months. He, last week said he was fine. I haven't heard from him since, and instead they're focused on these snarky posts written by consultants, and no candidate for office of either party ought to be shielded from scrutiny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Okay. So, just a moment of honesty, I mean, did Democrats ignore that because he was their guy then but now it's a problem?
NELLIS: Yes. I think a lot of Democrats did, and like I worked for another candidate in that primary and thought Fetterman was not the right candidate there, and I worked for him a little bit in the general doing some data work at the end because I support our nominees, but we turned our heads on that.
We did the same thing with Graham Platner. I think there's a type of consultant inside the Democratic Party that's looking for this mythological working class individual, so they find a guy in cargo shorts and they go, that's our guy right now, and they turn a blind eye at the silly stuff that they do or how lazy they are, and now we're paying the dividends of that. I think we would've been in the same position if Graham Platner had been elected to the United States Senate too, and at least we swapped him out for Troy Jackson.
But I will add one other thing. There's multiple senators right now that I think are just not qualified for the job. Fetterman isn't doing it. He isn't qualified for it. Not to pick on Scott, but Mitch McConnell hasn't been seen in three months right now. Darline Graham can't find Taiwan on a map. Like we've got a real problem on it.
And also, one final thing, sorry to say, is like Dr. Oz was a candidate that Donald Trump picked for that race. If they had nominated a regular Republican from Pennsylvania, they probably would've beat Fetterman in that year.
PHILLIP: So, Scott, do Republicans want Fetterman? Because we know based on the reporting that they have been trying. They are hoping that maybe he will switch teams.
[22:25:01] Do you want the senator who has all of these things now on paper?
JENNINGS: Well, I mean, I think you'd want all the votes you can get in a closely divided chamber. I don't know what the count's going to be after the election, but if a Democrat became a Republican, it would make it very difficult for the Democrats to take the majority perhaps.
I mean, look, he's -- he votes with the Democrats most of the time. On certain key issues, he's broken with his party. I frankly have admired how Fetterman has shown backbone. He stands up to this angry mob that runs the Democratic Party where they don't allow you to get out of line.
And let's be honest, a lot of this has to do with Israel. He has stood with Israel and that has not been popular in the Democratic Party, and so all these people have been raging against him. Of course, he has to answer for all of these constituent services issue. Every senator and every congressman does. But the problem with, for Fetterman is that in the Democratic Party, if you get out of line, particularly on Israel, they will come for you and they will assassinate your character, and I think that's what they're doing right now.
PHILLIP: Are you worried about what Mike just pointed out, which is, like, when you ignore this stuff, when you just want to accumulate power, at some point, the chickens come home to roost?
JENNINGS: Oh, look, my, my advice to anyone who gets elected to the U.S. Congress or the Senate is the number one thing you should spend your time on, tending to your constituents. The people, the members in either party that have the best constituent services, those are the ones that tend to get re-elected and remain popular even in turbulent times. That's true for a long time and it's true right now.
PHILLIP: Do you want him?
PARRISH: What I would say, I don't get anyone, Abby.
NELLIS: You can have him, frankly.
PARRISH: No. He is where he was supposed to be.
JENNINGS: We could take him today.
NELLIS: I'll make you a deal. We'll swap out McConnell and Fetterman at the same time.
PARRISH: he is where he's supposed to be. Millions of Pennsylvanians voted for him. They do have an alternative with Dave McCormick, which I appreciate your point that if they would've elected a regular person that -- and they did with Dave McCormick.
PHILLIP: Sorry to interrupt you, but did you know this kind of shocked me, John Fetterman is more popular with Republicans than David McCormick is in the state of Pennsylvania?
PARRISH: That may be the case, but they have an alternative in Dave McCormick is the point that I'm making.
PHILLIP: I mean, what does that say?
DOLL: Can I say something about that?
JENNINGS: This McCormick thing, Fetterman and McCormick, I'll just throw this out, they actually do things together. They make appearances together. I think it's kind of somewhat shocking in our environment for people to hear that, but you have a senator from each party in a big state out doing things together.
Don't we always say we want a little more bipartisanship? And you've got two guys trying to do it, and now the Democrats and his own party are trying to give a character assassination to Fetterman.
DOLL: I mean, he's literally threatening to switch parties. So, this is not a matter of him having opinions and us attacking him. He's made it very clear he's ready to jump ship if the Republicans need him come the midterms. But the fact is he will no longer be a Fox News darling if that happens because he does vote with Democrats most of the time, and Fox loves him because he criticizes his own party. Is he willing to criticize Republicans? Probably not.
But -- I mean, so he should be very careful about switching. He won't remain the darling on Fox that he is now.
PARRISH: But he's the Democrats' problem for now.
NELLIS: Yes, for now. But they treat -- but Republicans treat him like a useful idiot. They want him to stay inside the Democratic Party so they can actually --
JENNINGS: See? Look what happens. When you get out of line in the Democrat Party, they call you an idiot. That's what they do.
NELLIS: I think though here's the point. The point --
JENNINGS: At least he's useful.
NELLIS: He's useful to you guys. Look, you guys want him because he embarrasses us when he goes on T.V. and says this.
JENNINGS: See what I mean? They call him an idiot. I mean, look --
NELLIS: John Fetterman is -- I mean, a guy that's blowing off sick kids and disabled veterans is not a good senator.
JENNINGS: He goes out and speaks his mind on one thing, Israel, and now the guy's an idiot.
NELLIS: It's not about Israel. I haven't brought up Israel once. You're the one who brought it up. I'm talking about his constituent services. He's not doing the basic core aspect of the job.
JENNINGS: Just be honest with our audience.
DOLL: But that's a legitimate issue to talk about.
NELLIS: Yes.
JENNINGS: See? It's what it is for you, right, Israel and Iran?
PHILLIP: No, I'm talking about the constituents.
NELLIS: Well, if I could add one more thing. Scott, why don't you pull your phone and ask Mitch McConnell how he feels about it? Ask him. Yes, ask him.
PARRISH: Two different things. Those are totally two different things.
PHILLIP: Next for us, President Trump has recently downplayed Russia helping Iran, but how are his trusted deal makers going to be received on their way to Kyiv and then Moscow? We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:33:40]
PHILLIP: After the Trump administration failed to reach a deal to end the war in Iran, it now looks like it's shifting its diplomatic efforts to Russia and Ukraine. Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly plan to visit Moscow and Kyiv as soon as this weekend. Russia has recently ramped up its assault against Ukraine, while Kyiv has been targeting Russia's oil infrastructure.
That's something that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claims is what's to blame for the high gas prices that Americans are paying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, U.S TREASURY SECRETARY: We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refine products, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Joining us in our fifth seat is Max Boot, he's a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Max, read these tea leaves for us, the pivot to Ukraine and Russia, the fact that President Trump just a couple of days ago dismissed the idea that Russia is being a bad guy when it comes to helping Iran. What are they preparing to do here?
MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, "WASHINGTON POST" COLUMNIST: Well, I don't think they were preparing to accomplish very much. I mean, I don't know if Abby will remember when President Trump kept claiming he was going to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day.
[22:35:03] That was his constant refrain when he was running for his second term. Now it's been well over a year and a half, and the war is still going undiminished, and I don't see much prospect of it ending, sadly, and I'm glad to see that after more than a year and a half, Witkoff and Kushner are finally going to visit Ukraine after numerous visits to Russia.
But the problem is, Trump refuses to put any pressure on Putin, and the only guy who can end this war is Putin himself, and instead of trying to put pressure on Putin, Trump is trying to play a mediator in the middle, and that doesn't work because this is not a war where there's equal culpability on both sides.
This is a war where there's an aggressor and there's a victim. Ukraine is the victim, Russia is the aggressor, but Trump won't even call out Putin's aggression. For example, just in this last month, Russia has been mounting terrorist attacks in Europe, including an attempt to use drones to blow up aircraft, civilian airliners, in Germany.
Trump won't say a word about it, so if you're giving Putin a pass, he doesn't have any incentive to end his war of aggression.
PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, giving him a pass in Europe, giving him a pass when it comes to Ukraine, giving him a pass when it comes to Iran. The President was asked about Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff's trip today in the Oval Office. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are expected to go to Kyiv and Moscow. Are they bringing with them new proposals?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No, they're bringing with them a proposal to end the war, because I ended eight wars.
I hope you're proud of me. I ended eight wars. I get no credit for it.
I ended eight wars. Did I get the Nobel Prize? No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Is that what this is about? Wanting to say that he's ended it so that he can make another play for the Nobel Peace Prize?
NELLIS: Yes, I don't think that's what it's about. I mean, we know that Kushner and Witkoff have been going all around the world right now, making deals and, in my opinion, abusing our foreign policy apparatus to enrich the Trump family.
And you see that in this deal they made with the Qatari government for the jet that he's going to be taking on this trip, it sounds like, that he's taking soon, which I just think is a $400 million bribe, because now Qatar has Article V-like protections for the United States. So I don't trust that Kushner and Witkoff are doing what's best for
the American people, I think they're doing what's best for the Trump family. And Donald Trump couldn't name the eight wars that he's ended because he hasn't. That's just like a weak talking point that I just have never understood.
JENNINGS: I want to disagree with the idea that the administration hasn't put any pressure on Russia. I'll just read you a headline.
"Treasury sanctions major Russian oil companies, Calls on Moscow to immediately agree to ceasefire."
BOOT: That was a year ago.
JENNINGS: 2025.
BOOT: That was the only time he's ever imposed sanctions. He has not imposed any sanctions since then. What has he done in the last year?
JENNINGS: You come out here and make sweeping statements.
BOOT: I'm not running to be press secretary of this White House.
PHILLIP: Scott, what has he done?
JENNINGS: I just wanted to correct the record that this administration has taken a firm hand against the Russians.
PHILLIP: You did give one example, but that's one example from a year ago. So is there more?
JENNINGS: Well I think what they're trying to do right now is get a deal. And it is regrettable that there is no deal. I do agree with you, Max, that the aggressor in this is Putin.
And Putin needs to end the war. I think it's quite remarkable, actually, what the Ukrainians have been able to do and accomplish. They've -- strike deep into Russia, it's quite remarkable.
And I wish they didn't have to do it because I wish Russia would end the war, and the President is sending his envoys there to do it.
So I don't know if they can come home with a deal. I pray that they come home with a deal. This killing is senseless, and it is destabilizing for the region.
My point is simply to rebut the idea that this administration is somehow pro-Putin when the evidence to the contrary exists for anyone to look it up. They have put sanctions on Russia. They have put pressure on Russia.
They want the war to end. They've made clear their intentions. They've tried to deal with Putin.
He made a huge mistake by walking away from the President when he invited him to Alaska, and now we are where we are. PHILLIP: You've only really provided a single example.
JENNINGS: The U.S. Senate just passed a bill that would increase the President's ability to put pressure on Russia. Again, with his backing.
PHILLIP: The reason that this, again, I'm wondering, if going into this, you hear negative talk about Ukraine from Bessent, and then this is what, this is, I think it's worth hearing in his own words. This is what Trump said when he was confronted with the fact that Russia is actively helping Iran evade our sanctions, evade our attempts to box them in. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Will you punish Putin or Russia if they continue to do business with Iran?
TRUMP: So far, I think Russia's behaved quite well having to do with the Strait of Hormuz. And you have to understand, for everything they do, we do also.
Somebody was saying about China, what about China? We hear they're spying.
We spy on them too. That's the way it goes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: He won't say anything bad about Russia.
[22:40:01]
DOLL: This is the problem. By starting the war in Iran, he made it so much more difficult to end the war with Ukraine because he doesn't want Russia to help Iran, which it is, and so he has made us harder.
Now we're in these two wars where it's intertwined. And the fact is Jared Kushner, of all people being sent, first of all, those two do not know how to negotiate. We're still in this war with Iran, and now they're being sent to Ukraine.
Jared Kushner is not appointed. He's not elected. He's not a diplomat in any way.
PARRISH: He's a special envoy.
DOLL: Well, just because he's --
PARRISH: A special envoy.
PHILLIP: Steve Witkoff is the special envoy.
DOLL: Jared Kushner does not have an official position. He doesn't have a conflict of interest. He doesn't have accountability and transparency like a typical government employee. PARRISH: You're talking about the same Jared Kushner who went into the Middle East and negotiated the Abraham Accords and brought stability to that region.
DOLL: Well, he was actually in the administration when he did that. He was in the administration when he did that.
PARRISH: By any means, but under Jared Kushner, under his leadership and him going into the region and negotiating the Abraham Accords, he brought stability to the region, better stability.
DOLL: He was in the administration. Now he wants to act as a private person. You just can't white-again.
PHILLIP: I'm curious what you think about the negotiating skill, success or failure, of the Kushner-Witkoff duo.
BOOT: I mean, they have a terrible track record. They couldn't end the war between Russia and Ukraine. They can't end the war between the U.S. and Iran.
What have they accomplished? I mean, clearly these are not people with a background in diplomacy, and Steve Witkoff in particular has been criticized by numerous diplomats and former intelligence officers with experience in Russia for being extremely gullible in dealing with Putin.
He tends to believe what Putin tells him. This is exactly the wrong approach. Instead of going along with Putin, we need to hammer Putin, we need to put pressure on him.
And contrary to what Scott says, the administration simply has not done that. They increased sanctions once on Russia in the course of more than a year and a half. But Russia keeps evading sanctions, and the administration is not holding them responsible.
And worst of all, this dumb war with Iran, completely unnecessary and unsuccessful, has depleted our inventory of patriots, which means that Ukraine does not have the patriots it needs to defend itself.
And so a lot of Ukrainian civilians are being killed. They are paying the price because of the fact that we have started this unnecessary war that we can't end with Iran. That also makes it harder to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
PHILLIP: So the President today was insisting, despite earlier in this very same media availability calling it a war, he insisted it's not a war. He calls the Iran war a small thing. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Can you explain to the American people if this is not a war, what exactly is it?
TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. A lot of people don't call it a war, I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing.
REPORTER: This certainly doesn't feel like small potatoes. 18 service members have died. We're seeing record-long deployments. You initially said this would last --
TRUMP: Record-long? Why is it record-long? How long are we in Vietnam?
We're in five months now. And you know what we did in five months? They're not going to have a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: The President characterizing a conflict in which 18 service members have died as small potatoes is not a good look.
PHILLIP: I certainly would not have characterized it that way. And so I don't agree with that sentiment at all.
But I want to push back on a point that Max made earlier. The idea that the United States is out of Patriot missiles because we went to war with the number one state sponsor of terrorism who was a direct threat to the United States for 40 years, has said death to America, and wants to kill Americans.
And the Ukrainians -- it's an issue that the Ukrainians don't have enough to protect themselves. The United States military and the Patriot missiles that you say we've depleted are for the United States and for protecting the American people.
I absolutely agree that Russia is the aggressor. And I hate, as Scott said earlier, what's happening in Ukraine.
But the idea that it's our problem, our fault, what's happening in Ukraine and our Patriot missiles being depleted against our number one enemy is a major issue.
BOOT: There is no reason to go to war with Iran in February. Even though, yes it's true, Iran has a --
PARRISH: I disagree with you on the intelligence community. I disagree with the intelligence community, (inaudible) at the hands of their own people disagree with you.
We absolutely --
BOOT: The only reason Trump went to war with Iran --
PARRISH: If you want to argue about how we executed the war, I would have had that --
PHILLIP: Let me let Max finish his thought and then we have to --
PARRISH: We should absolutely pummel them.
PHILLIP: Finish your thought. BOOT: Iran is a heinous regime which has been hostile to the U.S. for 40 years, but there was no particular reason to go to war with them in February. The only reason that Trump did so was because he thought he would win this massive victory in four or five weeks, which clearly was a massive miscalculation, which involved him ignoring what his own intelligence community was telling him.
[22:45:01]
PHILLIP: All right, next for us, a new report details just how deep the President's obsession with his construction projects is. We'll tell you the details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: As the midterms kick off, President Trump is clearly preoccupied with all of his prized pet projects.
There's the reflecting pool, the triumphal arch, and of course, the ballroom, all of which Trump is building as he cements his legacy across the nation's capital.
[22:50:07]
He told New York Magazine in a new interview, "Nobody will do it once I'm gone. When I leave, nobody will."
Trump has also reportedly become obsessed with his ballroom, but it doesn't matter the subject or the audience. He will talk about it.
The President meets with representatives from the ballroom construction crew once a week, and his official calendar is filled with meetings about other capital projects.
That is one of the more unusual things about Donald Trump. I mean, we have a history in the office of the presidency -- of Presidents doing this job not because they want self-aggrandizement right now or in the future, but because they're in service to the American people.
But Trump wants to be praised. He wants his face on everything, his name on everything. That is unusual and different.
PARRISH: Abby, I don't know. The President's a builder, and he gets excited about building things, sure.
I don't know the timing, if I was advising the President, if the timing is quite appropriate to be having some of these conversations. If I was the President's advisor, I would be telling the President we should be running buckwild across the nation, telling people the plan that we have for the nation and the abysmal plan that the left has by way of the Democrat Socialists. So I don't agree with the timing of this.
Yes, people are facing hard times, and we're having hard conversations about inflation and the economy. I'd be running around having those conversations about the radical left and probably not about a ballroom or the arch.
NELLIS: Can I just jump in on that? The Republicans don't have a plan for the economy.
They control all of Congress right now. They haven't really done anything that's helped support the Democrats.
PARRISH: Even if that were true, it still beats the radical left agenda of open borders, getting rid of the police, eliminating the Senate, getting rid of the presidency.
They're not talking points. They're my talking points. They're the talking points of Democrat Socialist candidates in their league primaries across the country.
DOLL: None of them are actually saying that.
PARRISH: They're saying it in their endorsement.
DOLL: They're not saying that. None of them are saying that.
PHILLIP: A ton of time, and you guys have gotten into it on this before, and I think your point is taken about the President's priorities, and I think that's really what this story is about. I think the American people, frankly, are sick of hearing about his projects.
The "Washington Post" asked them about their feelings about the ballroom, the arch, the reflecting pool. 38 percent said that they're upset, 27 percent say that they're dissatisfied. This is an overwhelmingly negative view of this whole concept.
And meanwhile, according to the story, the President wakes up every morning. He gazes at the construction site. His son, Eric Trump, says he'll call me at 9:30 at night and say I'm going to go walk over and check the construction of the new ballroom.
He's having more fun building the ballroom than I can possibly tell you. What the American people hear when they hear something like that is -- this is what he cares about, not the things that matter to their pocketbooks.
JENNINGS: Well, it's interesting to me about all these projects that everybody's carping about. They're actually not for him. They won't be done during his presidency, the ballroom.
PHILLIP: That's not what he said. He said that the ballroom is going to be done in the summer of 2028.
JENNINGS: Okay, well, he's leaving his office in January '29.
PHILLIP: He's trying to make it so that it's done in his presidency.
JENNINGS: The next President will enjoy it. And whenever they build this arch, I'm pro-arch, by the way.
Golden arches, St. Louis arch, arch support. I love arches. I think the arch is going to be amazing.
DOLL: This is really for him.
JENNINGS: It's for the next President. It's for the next administration. And so I think looking ahead, having this ballroom, Presidents forever are going to enjoy this thing.
And by the way, the military's going to love it too because it's upgrading our military facilities.
DOLL: He said the most honest thing when he said that they're not going to do it after because he's deeply unpopular and he's trying to buy his own legacy because they will not name these buildings after him afterward.
PHILLIP: Next for us, the panelists are going to react to your feedback from cnn.com/abby. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIP: And now for some viewer feedback from cnn.com/abby.
Here's the first one. The Fed rate and open trade are not directly correlated. He needs to take a civics class high school level.
I would make that an economics class. Maybe not so much a civics class.
NELLIS: You called it economically illiterate in the beginning. I think that was right.
PHILLIP: Just some basic problems with the math here on that one.
We've got a fun one for you guys. Do you all go out for a beer or something after the show, or does everyone just quietly get up and go home?
NELLIS: I'm going to get a beer.
PHILLIP: This group. Are we getting beers?
PARRISH: It depends on who wins this baseball game. If Scott gets a victory, we're down.
PHILLIP: We've got some baseball on deck.
Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
